Mizuho Markets Cayman LP Purchases New Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Mizuho Markets Cayman LP acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 7,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000. Morgan Stanley comprises 0.7% of Mizuho Markets Cayman LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 14,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares during the period. Connors Investor Services Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.3% during the first quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. now owns 235,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,206,000 after buying an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 5,816,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $547,714,000 after acquiring an additional 316,924 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 58.0% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 4,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 30.7% during the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 3,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. HSBC raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.29.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $134.06 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $112.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.75. The stock has a market cap of $215.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $76.33 and a 52-week high of $134.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.